


New Collective

by Stephenopolos



Category: StarCraft, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Crossover, Exploration, Gen, Original Character(s), POV First Person, Science Fiction, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-08 03:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1128056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stephenopolos/pseuds/Stephenopolos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young man gains the power of the collective, in the form of stargate atlantis' replicator nanites and protoss style technology. Inspired by East Bridge over at FFnet. Originally written in second person narrative but rewritten in first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wake up

I was walking home. Completely normal you know, walking. It wasn't like it was a bad day. A bit on the cold side, but not biting. I remember how bright everything was from the snow. I recall looking up and seeing it. A truck coming down the road; I remember thinking it was going a bit fast for a snowy side street. Then I remember noticing the kid. A boy about nine all bundled up standing in the street, why was he in the street. I recall doing something completely uncharacteristic for me. You see, I wasn't that nice of a person in life. A bit selfish, a bit unobservent. I was consumed with the latest technology, my job, my pitiful excuse for a life. Though living wasn't really much all things considered.

I jumped. I rushed forward and pushed the boy across the icy roadway. But in the process slipped on the ice myself and was crushed as the truck failed to stop. Now I'm somewhere dark. It's not cold. I try to take a breath. Breathing doesn't work. I try to feel anything. It's not warm. I'm panicking.

A voice whispers my name. It's asking me something but if I could I'd be hyperventilating right now in a full blown panic attack. The voice sighs. A moment later the sensation of being able to breathe returns and I feel a little better. I'm still panicking but not quite as badly. The voice tries again. I try to respond but I have the distinct impression that I'm somehow lacking a mouth. All my thoughts are a jumbled mess and even I probably wouldn't be able to make out a coherent thought from the inside of my skull.

Like water to a dehydrated man in a desert, light floods my vision and I get the impression I now have eyes and a mouth, movement is limited but I'm not completely frozen. My thoughts begin to clear. The voice returns calls my name again and asks it's question. This time I understand and can respond. Though my voice sounds strange, somewhat hollow to me as I do so.

"Would you like a second chance? The power to make a difference?" is the question.

I respond. "Yes, and yes"

The voice asks another question, "What would you do with your power?"

"Protect those who can't protect themselves." I respond.

The voice is silent. A moment later memories flood my mind. Another life, a different life. It is greatly confusing. I try to remember something from my past. All I get is vague notions of who I was from before. These new memories, they're somehow alien, they just don't feel familiar, like they're not really mine. A moment of confusion passes over me. The new memories fit into place with the old, like the merging of two different colors of paint to make a different color. I take ownership of the new memories and suddenly the old memories become clear again. I'm no longer the same person I once was. I'm somehow a combination of the two sets. My old life and memories have a slightly stronger hold over me than the new ones by a few years but not much.

The new me is a nineteen year old based on the memories. I have a family. A mother, a younger sister and brother. I search my memories for the names frantically. Edriss, Merina, Sameth I recall with a sigh wondering what happened to them. The voice speaks up again.

"Now that you are whole again, I ask you once more, what you would do with power?" it sounds from all around like the combination of rustling leaves and something vaguely digital.

"Protect those I love. Protect my family. Fight back against the creatures that treat us like animals." I practically growl.

"Good answer, young man, you shall receive your gift and return." at the final word the sound of rustling leaves and mechanical humming didn't die. My chest grew warm the feeling spreading slowly throughout my body. It grew hotter and started to become painful. My mind feels like its on fire. Just when it reaches the point where I feel any more will drive me insane I black out.

I don't know how much time has passed, I ache all over. I slowly open my eyes. Everything seems a thousand times clearer than it's ever been. My mind races as I examine the ceiling above.

"Amelius?" The soft voice indicates someone has noticed that I'm are awake.

"What happened?" I croak. My throat feels odd and my voice has a hint of distortion around the 'hap' in happened, vaguely digital. I peripherally register pain from the back of my head, my chest, side, and arms.

"You were caught by falling debris from the building we were in while hiding from the wraith." she responds.

My memory is somewhat fragmented, the scene flashes before my eyes. "oh"

"Ancestors be thanked that you are still among the living my son. We did not know if you would survive."

"Are they gone?" I ask.

"The culling ended this morning. The city is in ruins, many were taken."

I remember this happening ten years ago, my father was taken the last time. The pattern has held for as long as any can remember, every ten years the darts come and destroy what the people of this planet, my people have built. They sweep away the living in beams of white light.

I wonder what the voice was talking about when it mentioned power. A glowing text appears in front of my vision. If I had lacked the memories of my old life on earth I would have shrunk from the event. Now however, I am curious.

The text read: System loading.

A moment later the text disappeared. My mind is flooded with information. I know that there is damage to my ribcage. It hurts to breathe because one of my ribs is broken and dangerously close to puncturing a lung. I have a thirty-four percent fracture to the base of my skull. A display pops up. Apparently I have one hundred units of something abbreviated to ZPE. The dialog is a request to use twenty-five units of ZPE for repairs to my body.

I authorize the request. A few moments later and there's a curious tingling near the back of my skull and in my chest. The display shows the fragmented rib being dissolved and rebuilt. It slowly becomes easier to breathe. The dull ache in the back of my head since I woke up is fading as well. The redness from my chest and head fade from the virtual representation of my body. Only ten units of ZPE drained. I wonder what the rest was for, the dialog did ask for twenty-five. A moment later I feel the change throughout the rest of my body. My pores expel the toxins picked up from a lifetime of living in a society on the verge of an industrial revolution. The pollution from the factories and the decennial bombardment by darts.

I feel better than I've ever felt in either lifetime. I question in my mind what it meant by power again. A moment later an information sheet appears overlayed over my vision.

Executor of the Aesurotoss collective.

Health: 100 - Armor: 0 - Shield: 0

ZPE: 75 - ZPE regen: 2/hour - Psi provided: 5

Abilities:

Build Probe - 20 ZPE 1 psi

Self-teleport: 15 ZPE teleport to collective member or within line of site.

Temporary power to building: 2 ZPE/sec

Something jostles in my memory. In my previous life on earth I remember playing a game where there was a race called the protoss. It was from a game called Starcraft. But the protoss were an individualist society that only acted as a collective through the racial psychic gestalt. They remained individuals even though connected. I shudder hoping there aren't any zerg or terran for that matter. As weak as I currently am I would be no match for a terran dominion let alone a swarm of zerg.

I've got ten years until the next culling. With any hope I can have this planet so armored by the time those ten years are up that I can begin spreading to other planets and hopefully push back the wraith threat.

Looking over at my mother who has patiently waited while I sat there processing all that's happened I move to get out of bed. "I need materials, something metal some sort of plastic."

"You really shouldn't be getting up you were seriously injured." She tells me almost ordering me to lay back down as I wave her off.

"I'm doing much better now, and I need a shower or something I feel disgusting just laying here." I say looking down at the exposed skin where a layer of oils and impurities collected from the healing process that removed all the pollution from living in a society fighting to advance past the industrial stage.

"The power hasn't been restored yet so you'll have to make do with a cold shower. There should be plenty in the debris just lying around." She says with a hint of curiosity. Thankfully it's summer so a cold shower isn't to great of a problem.

I leave the bandages on not wanting to explain why there is not an angry wound underneath them anymore. Pushing myself up I settle my face face into a grimace as if the pain I felt previously is still there and not gone. I wonder if psi is anything like what the protoss used in the game the other me played back on earth. The ZPE resource is something new though.

I look at the status of my ZPE in the corner of my HUD that only I can see. Given the slow regen rate I have no cooldown on my abilities but I am limited by how much ZPE my body can produce at a time to power them.

After a brief and very cold shower I make my way to the beam of metal that fell on me almost killing me. A pool of silvery nanites collects in my palm taking with it twenty units of ZPE. I drop them onto the pile of scrap metal, plastic, and rubber insulated wiring. The pile begins to dissolve. A short moment later I notice an opaque blue shield has formed slowly absorbing the material until it reaches about a meter in diameter hovering about half a foot above the ground it holds a decent chunk of the debris within.

In my mental hud there is something of a countdown timer with an option to cancel. I walk back to my makeshift bed where my mother and younger siblings are waiting. I'm down to fifty-five ZPE. While I don't quite feel as though I absolutely need to eat. My stomach does feel somewhat empty so I sit with my family around the makeshift emergency kit and emergency rations. I quietly gnaw on the dried meat that holds little flavor even with my recently enhanced senses. It tastes mostly like the process used to remove all of it's moisture for packaging. That and the nutrient soak it had to enrich it with minerals and vitamins.

As I drink down a cup of broth to wash away the taste from the meat I notice the measurement for ZPE has gone up a point thirty minutes early. It seems that the metabolic process is able to help regenerate some spent energy. Though I can't glutton myself because one, lack of resources would end up starving my family which would be bad, and two I can only fit so much of this food down my throat without gagging on the taste.

The countdown timer says the probe should be finished in another thirty minutes. The build time on that thing, I don't know if I expected it to be shorter or longer.

"Don't touch the glowing blue ball in the other room it might shock you." I gently warn my younger siblings and mother. "It'll fade in about thirty minutes, if any of you are up when it does wake me."

For having just greeted consciousness after a long time recovering I feel exhausted. Returning to the makeshift bed, I lie down and wonder just what my shiny new probe in the other room can do. I drift off to sleep.

A short time later I find myself being shaken awake. I check the chronometer that's appeared in the top left of my hud it's managed to synchronize itself with local time. It's sometime in the morning five hours and thirty minutes into a twenty-six hour day.

I yawn myself awake. My little sister has curled up next to me and fallen asleep, my brother is the one who shook me awake. Mother has gone out into the city to see if she can help with the clean up efforts and isn't back yet.

"What are you doing awake Sam?" I ask carefully keeping my tone from sounding either patronizing or scolding.

"Couldn't sleep." The thirteen year old shrugs. "your whatever it is in the other room has been finished for a while now."

"Thanks," I yawn again, "Help me move her without waking her up." I say looking down at my sleeping sister.

The redhead shrugs, "Sure" and carefully leans forward to pull her off of me and gently set her back onto the makeshift mattress as I slide out from under the blanket.

Sameth yawns, "I guess I am tired after all."

"Lie down I think I'm awake for the day." I tell him pointing at the bed I just vacated. Sameth is too tired to argue and crawls in next to our sister. A few minutes later I hear him softly snoring.

Walking into the other room I examine my new probe. It's a grey blue color instead of the gold I've traditionally associated with the protoss. It definitely carries some of their design aesthetic. Though it seems somewhat blocky as if part of it is made out of smaller blocks. It's a merging of two designs the first one I recognize obviously protoss but the second is unfamiliar. It's humming quietly as it floats above the floor the gently glowing blue emitter about waist height. I reach a hand towards it and encounter a resistance about where the blue sphere stopped last night. It's not a solid resistance like an invisible wall, instead it feels like it has some give, like a pillow. So I keep pushing and with a soft static noise my hand is allowed to go through the barrier. Touching the surface of the probe a silvery substance comes to the surface and flows over my hand sinking back into my flesh.

My ZPE goes up five units. Providing material for the construction process seems to have reduced the cost and returned some of the nanites used in construction. There's a new icon in the corner of my screen with a sprite image of a probe and the number one next to it. Mentally selecting the image brings up a new dialog window similar to the one with my stats.

Probe

Health: 10 - Shield: 50 - Health/Shield regen rate: 3/second

Attack: 5-10 - Attack rate: 1/second

Abilities:

Build menu - Adv. Build Menu - Gather

I select the build menu, the majority of options are greyed out not letting I see them however there are three at the top. Potentiae converter, Command tower, and Outpost. Each one gives a brief description of the building and it's costs both in terms of resources and ZPE. The command tower and outpost can be built and run without a converter but I will need the potentiae converter anyway as it creates and recharges the power crystals that are used for everything. Not to mention it can act as a wireless power station.

I'm going to need a place to build all this. There's a forest outside the city mostly empty and if I remember correctly an abandoned mine. I lead the probe out into the early morning chill. Directing it to the mine, I instruct it to gather enough resources from the mine and build the power conversion facility just inside the forest. It heads into the mine and begins scanning for metals and other useful resources.

I return to the makeshift shelter in the office building on the edge of the city. I decide to build another probe with more of the debris from the collapsed room. It's a repeat of the process from the previous day. Eventually my mother comes in from the meeting with the city leadership. The news is harsh, almost all infrastructure in the cities nearby has taken the same hit. It's more damaging than the previous two cullings. One of the other two nations on the planet must have advanced far enough to warrant a greater bombardment than last time. A small ticker in the corner of my hud informs me that my probe in the mine has made a resource acquisition, and a fairly large one at that. At the rate it's gathering resources it should be ready to start the build within a few hours.

I query the information on the building process. The file I read informs me that it's a combination of nanites and matter to energy to matter conversion. The probe converts the resources to energy and feeds the energy-matter stream to a group of nanites which carefully assemble matter into the desired structure contained by a glowing cyan-blue field of energy. Once finished the opaque cyan field fades and the new structure is left standing completed.

The solid blue energy field is practically invulnerable and actually absorbs any energy directed at it feeding that into the construction process. Unlike the probes from the protoss in the game, my probes have to remain in place projecting the field and feeding energy to the process. They're also a bit stronger than their protoss counterpart. The converter is the ultimate garbage disposal. It sorts any resources placed in the processor into things it can recycle easily by breaking it into it's base components for the reconstruction processes and the rest of it which is just converted into energy.

While all of the structures can be built using pure energy to fuel the process, it actually consumes less resources to use stored matter to begin the process. As such the converter is something of a warehouse as well as a power generation facility and trash processor. I also learn from the file that it can remotely power the grid of power lines running through the city that are currently offline.

I turn to my mother, "Next meeting tell them to get crews on the powerlines. As soon as the cities' lines are cleared as safe I have a way to give us electricity" I tell her after finding out I can have a power station built. From the outside It looks like i've been sitting there staring off into space for the past hour as I read an invisible screen only I could see. Most of the damage to the lines is due to falling debris. The reason the power isn't on is because the power station about a mile away was completely obliterated off the face of the planet. I would just flip the switch and turn it on when the building was finished but I don't want anyone hurt if there are any downed wires that would become energized.

My power station is extremely efficient pulling energy from anything it safely can. There's even an underwater version of the building that will sink a geothermal tap into undersea vents. I resolve to start colonizing the ocean with these things as soon as I can. The first thing though, I want to build as soon as the powerstation is finished is an outpost. Outposts have some defensive capabilities that will set my mind a little more at ease at least as far as the local area is concerned. I want to get at least my nation covered before the wraith return in ten years if I can't get the other two nations to cooperate.

That's going to be a long term project. The rest of the day goes by quickly as I busy myself helping the rescue teams canvas the city for others who might have gotten trapped or buried beneath the rubble. I pause only briefly to send the second probe to assist the first when it flashes in the corner of my hud as complete. By the end of the day the probes have almost finished gathering the required material and should have the construction started by the time everyone is in bed for the night. Not bad, considering I am working with only two construction probes. It's late and I'm tired again so I allow myself to fall asleep.

In the morning I wake to find my siblings have decided that I make a very nice pillow, again. I gently move Merin, she's somehow managed to wrap her arms around my neck in the night. Sameth is snuggled in on my other side. He really worked hard yesterday moving rubble. I'm masking the fact that my enhanced senses give me an infrared view of the collapsed buildings helping me pinpoint anyone trapped within. While it might not work well if there is too much in the way blocking the heat signature I am able to quickly scan rubble piles for people buried beneath.

As such I've become something of a hero for how many people I've unearthed from the debris. It should make it easier when I reveal the new technology I'm planning to build.

A brief glance at the resource bar of my hud tells me that my ZPE is back to a hundred. I decide to go check the status of the converter in person. I can see the squat rectangular tower rising from the forest before I even reach the building. I'm not sure what I expected. It's a strange combination of the almost lego like blocks of blue-grey machine and the golden bronze artistic and elegant of the protoss, curving and angular at the same time. There's a door on the side of this structure recessed into the wall. The sides of the building have blueish crystal cut aways traveling up the sides in an almost circuitry like pattern.

A few feet from the building I encounter the same feeling of resistance indicating the presence of an energy shield. I get the feeling that if I were hostile the shield would be solid and hurt a great deal more to touch. Pushing through I walk up to the door. Inside the small room is a diagram of the facility on a touch screen with blinking lights. I press one labeled control center in a blocky script that while different than english or the language of my new home I can somehow read.

A flash of light and the door behind me opens to a spartan room lit with blue-green and white lighting accents set into the support columns, walls, and ceiling. Against the far wall there is a window opening to the forest outside. Just beyond I can see the edge of the city where a few fires still burn sending smoke into the clear blue sky of morning.

Underneath the window is a row of control panels with digital readings indicating the status of various parts of the system. Stepping forward into the room the lights go from a dim glow to an active state as the building seems to sense my presence and come to life. The window viewing the outside dims and a holographic is projected over the window showing a scan of the surrounding terrain. Overlayed is a light blue circle indicating the range of the converter's power broadcasting ability. A little under a quarter of the city closest to the forest is covered.

The power lines should be able to carry the energy back into the rest of the city. I check the resources gathered throughout the night by the diligent probes. I've amassed quite the reserve it's a lot compared to the cost of the probes but still not enough. I check the information available on the converter.

There are fusion reactors in the half of the structure that is underground. Above ground there are solar panels and wind turbines. Throughout the building are enormous capacitors storing the generated energy. On the roof there are lightning rods that channel the naturally generated electricity into the heavy duty capacitors for reuse. One of the more interesting facets of this building is the shield it's unique among the shields in that it is capable of switching to a mode that will channel the discharge from any energy weapons used against it into the capacitor. This comes at the cost of vulnerability to kinetic weapons while that mode is active. I'm generating plenty of energy for my planned building projects that sending enough to power the city outside the forest will be a negligible drain on my resources.

Deciding secrecy is better for the time being, I access the controls and order the shield to switch modes into a cloaking field. I drain enough ZPE from my own reserves to start another two probes. I have enough Psi whatever that is left for one more probe. I wonder how I'm going to get Psi when an information dialog pops into my hud from the corner. I bring it up into view being thankful that whoever designed this was courteous enough to design it so that these things didn't randomly pop up and block my vision. The information dialog informs me that Psi is how many units can be in my control at once exceeding that limit will cause units to shut down until more Psi is available. The information dialog tells me that I can augment my control by building outposts and control towers. The outposts are limited to twenty-five psi. The control towers start with a hundred but are individually upgradable for more psi.

I close the dialog thinking that it's time to build an outpost or control tower. Changing my mind about my earlier decision to go for an outpost first I decide to build a control tower farther back into the forest away from the city and give the AI a command to switch it into cloaked mode the moment it becomes operational. Satisfying myself that everything is in order I head back into the city for another day of working to reclaim the damaged areas.

By the end of the day I've managed to check the main power line between the tower and the rest of the city. Working with the crews to make sure the breakers are off for power lines running to damaged buildings until their wiring can be verified as undamaged or at least safe, I've managed to clear the lines leading to emergency facilities like the hospital and civil services like the fire and police department. When the last segment of the line is cleared as safe I signal the converter to start sending power into the lines I spent the day marking. I'm tight lipped about how I managed it, though I promise that as soon as the remaining power lines are deemed safe to restore power to, they can be reconnected to the grid without difficulty.

It takes another two days of painstaking work until the four drones have gathered enough resources to build the control tower. The converter facility is working on building the power modules but charging them is going to take two months unless I can find a way to give it more energy. Until then I am working with the power generated by the control tower's fusion reactors, solar panels and wind turbines along with the support of the zpe converter tower which I've placed the control tower just within range of.

The converter's scanner indicates there is a hot spot just under the surface about three miles away that could make a good source of geothermal. I mark the spot for later. I'll probably build a convertor there and another in between.


	2. Gear up.

Life is slowly returning to normal here on Aiora I laugh somewhat to myself on discovering the name of the planet. So very close to the Aiur of the Protoss. I'm damned thankful that the Aiora version of me was somewhat reclusive and a downright wizard at the practical aspect of engineering, even before the accident where I had almost been crushed under a falling building.

The Aiora version of Amelius worked hard studying wanting to build something someday that could possibly protect us from the wraith. So of course when I told mum and the temporary council that if they gave me crews to check the power lines I could at least restore limited power, they didn't bug me for details assuming that I had somehow managed to repair one of the power plants or build a generator.

Truthfully, the lack of questions was probably a combination of my earlier behavior and the stress of leading a cleanup effort that you know is being mirrored across the planet. If anyone had looked for where the power was coming from they would be baffled. The ZPE converter had the ability to wirelessly transfer energy to receivers within range. these were what I had mounted on the poles and hooked up to the power lines.

It took about a day after I'd queued up the control tower for the structure to be completed, and with its completion the next level of buildings and the related information was unlocked. I read over the summary of each new building and I am glad now that I chose the tower over the outpost. I now know that all the outpost would have be capable of at the moment is long range scanners and providing a fixed twenty-five psi.

I'm eager to get away from the cleanup efforts, which are starting to shift from cleanup and rescue to repair and rebuild, and go explore my newest building so I tell my family I need a day off. I spend the whole morning hiking through the woods nearby before I walk right into the shield just inside of the cloak. Walking blindly through the cloaking field, I push my way through the spongy shield hidden beneath it. The tower is awe inspiring, and beautiful. Looking up at the blue-grey metal I can see hints of the golden protoss architectural ethos seamlessly merged with the newer design i'm starting to become familiar with.

I walk forward, heading towards a door that isn't readily apparent, but I know it's there. Appearing for all purposes to simply be another recessed section of the architectural design. The door slides smoothly open with barely a sound revealing a small chamber with another door opposite I recognize that the entrance has been setup to act as an airlock if necessary. Through the inner door is a moderately lit corridor revealing a bronze floor and aquamarine walls with bronze and blue-grey metal supports every few meters. The lighting is coming from triangular panels in the ceiling and glowing blue-white crystals slotted into holders in the walls each holder containing three arrays of seven flat crystals stacked vertically.

Whoever the original engineers and designers were of the technology I found myself in control of, they were pragmatists at their core. A people that believed firmly in functionality combined with beauty. While everything was designed to be aesthetically pleasing, it all had some functionality, nothing was purely decorative. There was nothing in the tower that didn't have a function or purpose no decorative vases or fake flowers sitting in the alcoves. Even the most utilitarian of things was a work of art. Each example of the awe inspiring technology before me was a work of art and beautiful.

The rooms on the first floor were mostly storage rooms and offices, there was a small exercise facility at the end of the hallway, and a set of moderately sized restrooms just outside of the exercise room between it and the offices. For the most part the rooms were mostly empty, containing only computer terminals and hookups for equipment that wasn't in place yet. Near the center of the floor was another transport booth like I had used at the power facility. Next to it was a set of stairs. Stepping into the booth I saw I could now transport between the tower and the power facility. The booth showed transporter location every seven floors. There were three individual booths located on the same level as the control room and another three on the floor labeled medical facilities.

Deciding to assuage my curiosity first, I tapped blinking dot for the control room first. A flash of light later and I exited the booth into an empty corridor. The only hint that I was on a different floor being the script written on the wall giving the floor number and corridor. Following the only path available, I find myself walking toward a set of large bronze sliding double doors with accented blue frosted crystal, the doors open on my approach.

The control center was a thing of beauty. Inside the room were a set of steps lit with glowing panels that spelled out brief warnings in the same foreign language that I could somehow read. The steps led up into a broad walkway with a large stained glass window of a crystal design at one end that had an empty area just in front where I could tell something was supposed to slot into the floor for an added functionality that wasn't currently available. At the other end was another set of stairs leading up to a huge window looking out into a balcony. These steps were also lit with glowing writing that read out a welcome to visitors and travellers, the steps gave notice that all who sought peace would be welcomed with open arms but those whose desires were less than honorable should beware and rethink their plans lest they be crushed.

Heading up the stairs bearing the welcome, to the left there is a set of stairs leading up to a walkway next to angled panels that pivot to allow entry to a conference room. To the right the stairs lead up into the main control center.

I take a moment to admire the large stained crystal window between the two sets of stairs. Just up the steps on either side of the large window there are doors leading out onto a balcony. On the far side of the control center across a walkway there's an office surrounded by clear sheets of crystal which I know are far stronger and tougher than ordinary glass from earth. Probably something similar to transparent aluminum as seen in Star Trek. Ignoring the office for now I check the consoles in the room. Above each is a holographic display. The consoles are an interesting merging of the two technologies as everything else has been. Both the protoss and the unfamiliar designs have a mental component built into them so that the person standing in front of the console need only think a command to bring up the desired interface. Though the standard push button technologies have been included as well for confirmation purpose to prevent someone from disabling main power by daydreaming.

Right now the only facility that is fully functional in the tower is the medical complex taking up several floors directly below the control room. Directly above the control room is a large empty bay with several platforms that jut out over a central area. At the base of the bay a section of floor panels retract to the control room below a few floors up and the ceiling does the same to reveal the clear blue sky above. Unfortunately for me it seems I don't have any vehicles in the bay at the moment. The designs are locked away under one of the required buildings.

I do have a few options available to me. I can either build a platform around the base of the control tower which will eventually allow me to turn this into a city-ship complete with star drive, or I can immediately start building manufacturing and research facilities around it making this a forever land bound control tower. Either way at the moment it is the seat of operations for the planet. Deciding to hold off on making that call for now I head back down to the control room and designate the hot springs and another location between there and the existing power plant as places for new power converters.

The control tower contains a more stable computer core and is able to keep track Psi controlled units at longer ranges taking the current four probes off my hands and tying them into it's systems. Not having them being directed by my own power anymore takes a load off my shoulders that I didn't realize was there.

There are living quarters in the tower for housing the command staff, and whatever scientists end up having labs in the tower. As it is there's probably enough space in the tower that I could house an eighth of the cities population. But i'm not quite comfortable just moving everyone into my shiny new tower. Even though I'm fairly certain I have absolute control over it's systems I really don't want to test that theory out if someone decides they want to try and take control. Afterall I'm only eighteen.

There is one more room I want to check located in roughly the middle of the tower. it's a circular room about two to three stories high. In the center of the room is a platform with cloudy white panels set into golden metal polished and carved with swirling decorative protoss designs. In the middle of the hexagonal dais is a throne-like chair made out of the grey metal. Set into the headrest are more cloudy white panels. The chair itself has an almost gel like covering that feels organic. Though I know the material will last for millennia without maintenance. Sitting down in the chair the back reclines and a foot rest comes out at an angle. The cloudy white paneling in the floor begins glowing a cyan blue.

In the armrests near where my hands sit there is a clear gel I can feel my fingers sinking into the gel. It doesn't feel slimy, and there seems to be some mechanism that draws excess moisture away from my hands keeping the interface comfortable. In spots the gel bubbles up forming buttons and there are lights that come on underneath though hard to see from my reclined position.

Somehow I instinctively know where to press on the hand controls, and just thinking about what I want brings up the screen on a holographic interface above my head. Messing with the interface I find out there are upgrades available for the tower complex. The first one on the list is labeled cybernetics core and has a 200 ZPE price tag. The description says it increases the number of units that can be controlled from the tower as well as unlocking two more buildings from my build list. I have enough resources, I queue the upgrade.

At least I have more Psi now. Plenty for a veritable army of probes for mining resources. I halfway wonder about using them to repair the city. My hud informs me that given the appropriate schematics they could easily rebuild the damaged sections. But I'm also considering that it might not be worth it to expend the effort repairing the current infrastructure if I can use the probes to build a new and more advanced infrastructure over the old one. I'm almost thirty percent of the way towards the required materials for the city ship platform add on to the tower, which will add corridors, housing for a stardrive and a power conduit base. Probably closer to forty-five percent if I use up all my stored ZPE from the power converter. There is still not much point in building an outpost given the tower has better long-range sensors. I cue up another thirty probes for resource gathering at other locations. With the control tower now directing them I feel a bit more comfortable about not micromanaging the probes myself. It's been programmed to keep them from being spotted for now.

Perhaps I can use them to build a few apartment towers during the night inside the city at a few of the areas that were leveled. Each of the smaller towers would have its own small medical facility for minor injuries which would take some of the pressure off the city hospital.

Making a snap decision I direct the sensors to give me a map of the city. Its an amazing feeling having the map downloaded into my head makes it seem like I can see everything about the city all at once. The computer can tell which areas are damaged and begins flagging the buildings based on how damaged they are. There are three locations within the city and under the area marked as within range of the power convertor where there is a large enough area and the buildings that stood there are damaged beyond repair. I decide to go ahead and build apartment complexes in those locations. The computer knows to wait until night time before moving the required probes into place.

I access the build menu once more. The three previous options are there but underneath them are three new buildings.

Academy - 275 ZPE  
Trains ground units and pilots for vehicles.

Research Lab - 500 ZPE  
Enables prototype development and research of alien technology as well as developing existing technology from theory. Examples of possible research include defensive and offensive weaponry for outposts.

Residential Tower - 150 ZPE  
Apartment complex with self contained arboretum and healthcare facilities. Provides living space for fifteen family units. Additional upgrades available to increase capacity.

The tooltip for each building lets me know that I have to place them within range of a power convertor or on a city ship platform. Except for the Residential Tower which has its own fusion reactor in a sublevel behind security doors. Each additional building requires some energy from the convertor slowing the production of the zero point modules which are basically large glowing crystal batteries. The facility doesn't actually charge the zpms, they're an excellent example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Instead it meticulously assembles new ZPMs by creating the required materials from energy or rematerializing the stored matter into the required shape. As long as I don't completely drain a ZPM it's still possible to recharge one.

After some more exploring I notice the time as a glance out a nearby window outside shows the sky is starting to get dark, and I head back to the transport booth and select the power facility. If I'd known I could just transport here using the booth at the power convertor I could have spent more time today exploring the tower. Most of my morning was spent hiking through the forest towards the tower.

Right now being close to any of the buildings is like having a quiet but comforting hum in the back of my mind. When i'm close to the probes I can sort of hear them beeping contentedly as they go about the carrying out my commands. It's more that a little disconcerting feeling that comforting hum fade as I leave the forest for the shelter where my family is staying.

Walking into the room I glance at my mother. From the expression on her face I immediately know something is wrong.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Sammeth wanted to help with the cleanup today." Edriss says looking dazed.

I move closer and prompt her to continue, "Tell me, I might be able to do something."

"He was standing there when the pile of rubble shifted. The construction driver didn't see him and the truck's mechanical arm, they were using it to pick up the heavier pieces of concrete, it upset the pile causing it to fall on Sammeth." Edriss said between sobs.

"He's still alive. Yes?" I ask worried.

"He's at the hospital down the road. His arms and legs were crushed." Edriss says.

Damn it! I curse in my head. There is no way I'm letting my little brother be crippled or worse die. I look my mother in the eyes. "Mom, I'm going to go see him." I tell her. "I'm not sure how but I know it's going to be alright? Okay?"

She gives a small nod.

"Merina is still here right?" Another nod. "Sam will be okay, look after Merina. I'll be back."

I leave the building making my way towards the hospital. Conditions have definitely improved since I started supplying power from the convertor hidden in the forest. Inside the main entrance I locate my brother's room and head down the hallway. Sammeth narrowly escaped having a crushed chest, or breaking his neck. Remembering my brief foray into medical school from my old life on earth before I switched majors I examine the chart. Both of his arms and legs are bandaged and immobilized. The crude x-ray shows the bones in his legs have been crushed beyond the hospitals ability to repair.

I don't know what to do. I can't move him to the medical facility in the control tower. While he's stabilized in the hospital bed the bone fragments could very easily rupture any of the major blood vessels if I move him now. I wonder if I can use the nanites in my own body to repair him like they did for me the first day I woke up. I will something to happen resting my hands on his stomach. I stand there hands on his chest and stomach for what feels like an hour and just when I'm about to give up my hud shows my ZPE level drop from a hundred to fifty the silvery pseudo liquid pools under my hands sinking into Sammeth's torso. My hands are frozen there as what must be at least half my entire stock of nanites leaves from my hands.

I feel emptier and maybe a bit hungry. Just as I'm really starting to worry the flow of nanites stops and my hands are suddenly free again as the last of the silvery liquid sinks beneath my brother's skin and the bruises start to instantly fade. The nanites must be clearing the painkillers and sleeping pills from his body as he moves his head.

Damnation, healing Sammeth is going to blow my cover. Part of the reason i've been so careful thus far was because of the attention that comes with appearing different. If i'd been an outside observer looking at this culture I might have assumed they practiced a form of shamanism given the appellation of the ancestors. However, I had the combined knowledge of my life on earth and my life here. Saying thanks to the ancestors before meals or any of the other little actions taken daily on the name of the ancestors was done in recognition of a race far older than the civilization on this planet.

In some ways it reminded me of the Xel'Naga who guided the Protoss before they were destroyed by their second creation the Zerg. While some things were different in the current situation, the parallel between the protoss and this planet was hard to ignore. I only hopped that the wraith would not be as prolific as the Zerg. I set aside my thoughts as I noticed Sammeth beginning to move in the hospital bed.

"What's that noise?" Sammeth said sitting up before looking at me. "Amelius?"

"What noise?" I said looking at him oddly.

"I thought I heard you talking." Sammeth yawned before looking down at his arms. "What happened?"

"You decided it would be a brilliant idea to get buried underneath a pile of rubble." I said tears at the edges of my eyes beyond happy that my little brother was healthy and safe.

"Oh," he said looking down, "I just wanted to help like you were. Hey, What's that humming?"

"Probably just the hospital equipment." I say.

"Sounds different, it's very faint." Sammeth said.


	3. The link

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> matter-energy-matter constructors are such wonderful imaginary inventions.
> 
> It's completely unrealistic to seriously expect anything to be accomplished when everything is confined to one person. Therefore those who complained about the brother: can shove it and should just go with it.

'Oh Crap' runs on a repeat mantra through my head I'm descending into a mild breakdown when suddenly something cuts through it all. My brother's voice, little sammy, for how quiet it was it felt like a shout.

"Oi, Mello! shut it, some of us are trying to rest here." He muttered through barely open eyes.

I laugh at the hilarity of the nickname. He hasn't called me Mello in forever.

"Stuff it Mello… " Sammeth muttered again, and then it hits me—Damn protoss psi link!

Sam forces open his eyes and stares at me for a moment. "Hey! Amelius, what's a protoss?"

I mentally clamp down on everything, instinctively trying to throw every shield I can imagine around my thoughts. "A very advanced and powerful people Sam."

"Like the ancestors?" the dark brown haired teen asks.

"Yes, only different." and technically not even a real race. I add silently.

"What do you mean not real?" Sam picked up on my inner thoughts again.

So I decide to perform a little experiment. "Ask me that again. Only this time think it instead of speaking."

Crystal clear through the link, 'Why? and What do you mean not real?'

'Holy sh— ' I self censor realising I'm broadcasting again and mom would not forgive me for teaching Sammeth swear words, hell, I wouldn't forgive me. 'Sam, a very long way away from here farther than even I know, the protoss were created in the minds of some very talented people as part of a game.'

'Then how do you know about them.' Sam responds over the link narrowing his eyes at me.

'About that, see, remember when I almost died a few days ago' feels like longer than a few days ago.

'Yeah?' I can see the question in his green eyes.

'Well I, I kinda sorta actually did die' He looks at me incredulously, 'only I got stopped on the way out and met well another me I suppose and we were given the option by someone to return with upgrades to help'

'Was it an ancestor?' is that excitement I read?

'I think so' I reply, 'go to sleep Sam, we have a busy day tomorrow.'

Happily the link drops into the background as soon as I'm out of the room, and by the time I'm home Sammeth's thoughts are merely soft hum. It's possible that given how recent the transfer of nanites is they just haven't in earth terms switched to another channel yet. For the most part though, I'm just too tired and hungry to put much effort into thinking about it.

I examine the mental map. I'm not thinking big enough. I locate the center of town roughly and queue a power facility, these things eat garbage turning it into usable matter and energy. Why not capitalize on that? I indicate an empty lot and order construction, then I target each empty or condemned lot that I know of and place a marker for a build order for one of the habitats.

The process is much more advanced than in the game. I can schedule build times and priority and let the control tower direct the probes on where to build. A final tweak in the programming changes the majority of the interfaces for the new buildings to Aio standard. I leave anything potentially dangerous locked and untranslated.

Realizing I haven't eaten yet and I'm still running low from my unexpected healing of my little brother I head for the kitchen area of our makeshift shelter. It's going to take a while to rebuild my reserves and after mechanically shoveling food past my mouth, I head to my cot falling asleep exhausted.

The dim light filtering it's way through the dirty windows pulls me from the land of nod. Blinking the sleep away from my eyes, I notice a blinking icon in the corner of the ever present heads-up overlay. With a sigh I mentally activate the link opening the dialog.

'Informational triggered: Link activation event.'

I'm not sure if I should be worried or not after reading the title, regardless I continue absorb the new material. In brief, all members of my pseudo protoss society will have a basic access to 'the Link' a partially technological and over time increasingly biologically based telepathic connection between individuals. Though a portion of the link will remain technologically based in regards to the more advanced examples of equipment and vehicles.

As the designated executor of the conclave — population two with holdings of several probes and structures I mentally add, awake enough now to realize that healing Sam the way I did added him to the link before it was apparently ready to do so — I'm the one who controls just how much access an individual member of the link has to the rest of the link. There is more in the dialog detailing the specifications of the link and various other things which I briefly skim before I push off to the side closing it knowing I can review it in detail if needed from one of the submenus along the side.

Overnight the probes were busy, the new power plant is complete and the first two of the habitats are complete. Even though I had initially worried about the state of my resources, after spending the resources on the new structures the impact wasn't nearly as bad as I had originally thought. With the second power conversion facility in the center of town running underground fusion reactors and some extremely efficient solar panels my reserve energy level is moving faster than the slow crawl of the other day.

Everything is still running on the orders I had previously given about remaining undetected so all the efforts last night were put towards finishing those three structures instead of starting all of them at once.

The closer one is only a half block from our current shelter so I start to pack up everything in my corner before gently shaking Merina awake, "Merin time to wake up sis."

Mother is already awake in the kitchen preparing the morning meal, her waist length brown hair unwashed due to the water rationing is held back by a simple strip of cloth. She notices me as soon as I enter, "Morning Amelius."

"Good morning mother." I say as I set the case holding my belongings; we've always kept such emergency kits ready to take with us to underground shelters ever since the pattern of cullings was established. Our family home having been badly damaged and burned by the wraith darts weapons fire shortly after we had vacated the premises.

I can tell she wants to ask about Sammeth but at the same time is afraid of the potential responses. My emotional state is enough of a hint that he is doing well or she would be more emotional herself, so I decide to give the opening, "Sam should be out today or tomorrow with a full recovery."

"Amelius," She gives me a strange look, "I saw the look on the doctors face, and Sammeth's legs were in a terrible state."

"I know mom, but he is fine now." I emphasised the word now and then changed the subject, "I'm having the rubble cleared and new permanent shelters built mom, there is one half a block down the road from here with our name on it, please help me pack up our stuff so we can move in today."

She just nods in acceptance still worn out, though I know I'll be getting an earful later on just how all this is being accomplished. Both of us set aside the conversation for now as Merina shuffles into the room in her orange pajamas with a cartoon ninja printed on the fabric and dragging a stuffed bear she hasn't let go of since the day we left home.

"Amelius going to stay and play with me today?" She asks softly as I pick her up and she buries her head into my neck.

"Not today, Mer after we get you to our new home I have to go meet with the emergency council and help with rebuilding. If you want I can take you to see Sammy in the hospital?" She pouts a little as I tell her this before pulling back so she can look me in the eyes with her own blue eyes.

"Okay, but he's annoying sometimes."

I laugh, "Yeah, but that's his job. Come on eat your breakfast and then help us pack everything up so we can move into the new building."

It's simple fare, fresh fruits and cereal but at least this time they focused on damaging industry and not agriculture, getting the food into the city is another problem but at least we aren't focusing on replanting burned crops at the same time as rebuilding. Soon enough we're finished with both breakfast and packing.

The street outside is lined with half destroyed buildings the parts that haven't been demolished, once reported structurally sound have been used for housing. The red brick a stark contrast to the grey concrete rubble in a few areas. At the end of the street in what was a completely demolished lot stands the new building. It's several stories tall with wide windows and each apartment has a private balcony protected by an invisible shield at the moment the shields will only be active while someone is on the balcony to conserve energy.

Provided enough power I know this building could support living conditions even if the outside atmosphere where partial vacuum or burning up. At the entrance I pause and take note of the plaque next to the door giving the street address and a randomly generated name to the tower. The doors slide open softly at our approach the lobby holding the same design ethos of the control spire, the majority of the front half of the building is a large open common recreational area, utilitarian yet comfortable chairs sit around metal tables.

Facing the main entrance we just came through is a counter with a small holographic directory terminal currently listing ten empty apartments. Six of which are two bedroom apartments with family room, and a combined kitchen and dining area. the remaining four were reconfigured from the original design to join two of the normal apartments into a four bedroom, two bathroom, family room, kitchen, diningroom, and a small sitting room and entry for visitors to wait in. So much luxury after living for several days in a half destroyed building that was turned into a makeshift shelter is a shock but a welcome one.

I lead the way forward and turn to my mother quietly asking, "are you okay with heights?"

At her silent nod I register an apartment on the top floor as occupied and input our family name Tav in the directory and register our individual names as well. Around the corner is a transport booth like the one I used the other day, I know even though as a civilian structure they currently only show access to the floors on this building—If I needed to I could use one to transport directly to any other facility within range of the transporter.

I motion for my mom to enter and carry my sister in with before hitting the button recently relabled with our name. The transporter hums for a moment and then flashes white before the doors open showing a small area with a huge window on one side and two blue grey walls set at an angle opposite the window with a sliding bronze door in each. The door on the left has an empty nameplate under a number nine while the door on the right has our names listed underneath a ten.

Walking forward I wave my hand over the sensor next to the door and it slides open easily. Merina is still wrapped around my neck and torso just watching everything with wide eyes, "Come on in mom, this is a four bedroom apartment and you have your own bathroom I'm sure you'd like a moment to relax for what must be the first time in days, and don't worry about the water. The building has it's own filtration and reclamation systems."

Merina squirms a little before demanding, "I want a bath too!"

Mom just shrugs at me and wearily carries her pack to the indicated room. Letting out a sigh, I point towards one of the smaller bedrooms, "I'll go run the water you think you can carry your stuff to your new room on your own?"

I give her an appraising look like I'm not sure she can handle this assignment on her own and receive a brief scowl in response before an enthusiastic nod and a mumbled, "mhm."

Luckily the tub seems designed to be able to dispense bubblebath when called for, and it's definitely called for. I know my sister well enough to know that water can end up everywhere so I lay out one of the fluffy towels on the tiled floor and put another on the hook within reach of the tub for when she's ready to get out. By the time I'm done she's already finished unpacking and exploring her room to find her way to the bathroom.

I hand her a washcloth and a bar of soap from the cupboard and show her where to put everything, when she's finished before leaving her to it, there is an automated laundry bin which using transporters will clean her clothing and fold them before returning them to her room. The bedrooms and bathrooms all open into a central hallway that leads to the sitting room and front door on one end, and between the bedrooms and the sitting room is the family room, dining and kitchen. Choosing my own room I unpack and then collapse onto the bed. Seems I'm still feeling a bit of the drain from losing half my supply of nanites, and If i'm feeling bad then Sam must be ravenous given how much damage he had to heal.

I need to clean myself up too and Merina will stay in there until she prunes and then some and mom is probably going to be in just as long so I feel somewhat safe temporarily marking the apartment next door as occupied while I use it for a quick shower. The layout is basically the same just mirrored. If I weren't rushed I would spend just as long under the steady stream but I want to get the nearby buildings cleared and their occupants moved into their own apartments quickly so I can mark those lots for demolition and rebuilding which will let me more more people out of temporary shelters and into nicer more permanent facilities. I clean up after myself and remove the occupied flag I had on the place.

Since Merina is still happily splashing away in the tub, I program the smart system in the apartment to open an audio only comlink directly to me if either mom or her yell my name and then call through the bathroom door, "Merina, I'm going to head downstairs for a few minutes, if you need me just call out my name."

The newly constructed building is amazing, everything is so clean and brightly lit. I take the transporter to the first floor and step out to view a balcony looking out over into the lobby. Outside of the main entrance is a growing group of the nearby neighbors, I can tell from just looking at them, that they are all just as weary and tired as my mother—But somehow everyone still gets up in the morning and works hard to reclaim the damaged sections.

The building is designed to make a cluster of four towers an efficient grouping with underground connections to share resources and each apartment having at least a few windows facing the outward from what would be the middle. After a few moments five people step forward and I motion them in explaining the process of how to claim one of the apartments in the building for their family. I don't really recognize all of them—while our community isn't that large, there are more than enough people that everyone tends to only know their neighbors on their street. It almost goes without saying that the destruction of the wraith culling displaced a lot of people.

Taking a set of stairs down to the lobby I walk for the front door and let it open for me stepping out into the street.

Someone in the croud calls my name, "Amelius!"

"Uncle Ike?" I ask recognizing the face behind the voice, He laughs at my questioning tone. Joxem Aikino my honorary uncle, our families lost track of each other several years back right after my father passed away. Looking back on it, I find it odd that he died in a rockslide on the way to a diplomatic conference after surviving two wraith cullings

Joxem 'Ike' Aikino grasps my hand firmly pulling me into a hug. "You're the image of your father Amelius, though that is definitely your mother's hair."

I feel my face reddening with embarrassment at his comments, "How have you been Uncle? Where have you been staying?"

"We've been surviving, though Erica was injured and has been having difficulty moving around. We've been making shelter in the ruined building just up the street to the north." He says brushing a hand through sandy blond hair.

"Uncle, there is an automated medical facility on the next floor up, get Aunt Erica here and use the transport booth just past the reception desk. Get everything ready to move into the new building. I have to speak to the crowd." I speak as quietly and clearly as possible to Joxem Aikino making sure he understands what I'm saying before sending him off.

The crowd of watchers has continued to expand a decent size, so I step onto my soapbox and call for attention. "I need whatever families are occupying the buildings on the north and west sides of the tower to step forward I need north tower first, so I can build on those lots tonight. There are six two bedroom and three four bedroom apartments inside the building behind me. Please, understand sharing facilities is necessary for a time but no more than two families per apartment and there will be more towers built tonight."

Standing there another thought occurs to me so I speak up again, "If any of you know anyone with any health issues that have already been looked at by the hospitals emergency room or are on the waiting list having injuries that have been deemed non-life-threatening please step forward there is an automated healthcare center in the second floor. If you could prepare to bring them in about an hour to be looked at for treatments please do so."

Deciding to do something about the other three buildings I make my way back inside and use the transporter booth to make a visit to each of the new residential towers to make the same announcements to curious people outside each one.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

~new collective~

Talking to the gathered crowd at each tower went about the same, I announced that the residential towers would be going up across the city over the next few days. I spent most of the morning explaining how to work the systems and eventually managed to find someone, at each building, who up until that point, had been unable to assist in the recovery effort due to a non-life-threatening injury that left them handicapped.

I spent a few minutes training them at the front desk until I was confident they could handle the basics and anything more could be forwarded to me through the comms system at the desk.

Surprisingly, there isn't a huge rush to fill the available spaces. Apartment buildings are almost a foreign concept, given the regularity of the wraith cullings, our population is usually spread out over a larger area, it's one more policy put in place to help limit the loss of people that more densely populated areas would experience. The only break in the policy is the years immediately following a wraith culling, when rebuilding efforts bring everyone together, and the empty lots I've chosen are neighbored by emergency shelters.

Everyone in the city, and I do mean everyone, has some portion of the cleanup effort which we've all volunteered to be responsible for. Slacking off is seen as just about the same level as being a wraith worshiper, that is to say, it's not tolerated. So where I would normally expect a larger crowd, that crowd doesn't exist, as everyone is working in shifts to help rebuild.

We clear one lot at a time from around the towers, so my probes could get to work tearing down the old buildings, recycling the material, and placing the new structures.

By the time I get back to the apartment I took my mother and little sister to, both of them are already finished with their soak, and sitting in the living room on the couch. Mom has a children's book in hand and is reading out loud to Mirena.

I wait until after she finishes the page to draw their attention. "Hey," I smile.

Mirena smiles and crawls under mom's arms and off her lap, before running to tackle me in a hug. "Melius!" she squeals.

My mother is far more reserved and dignified, as she sets the book aside, and stands to greet me. "I haven't felt this clean in weeks, thank you Amelius."

"You're welcome," I reply, as I adjust my hold Mirena until she's riding on my back.

"How is Sam?" my mother asks me changing the subject, I know we've already talked about this this morning but she's our mother and she worries.

"He's fine, the hospital should release him sometime today after they finish examining him and realize the injuries are far less severe than originally thought." I reassure her, and she lets out a sigh of relief.

I decided to change the subject again. "I saw Uncle Ike and Aunt Erica earlier today."

"How are they?" she asks, I know she is saddened by the fact that we haven't talked or spent time with them much since dad died.

"Aunt Erica had some lingering injuries from a fall she took during the culling. But the medcenter downstairs took care of it." I reply.

Mirena is getting bored of all the grown up talk and starts squirming. "How about we go downstairs and check out the common areas." I offer.

"Really?" Merina asks, her eyes wide. "Let's go!"

Mom laughs as Mirena enthusiastically voices her support of the idea.

We head to the transport booth and down to the floor above the ground level, down the hallway away from the balcony overlooking the lobby there are community rooms, this is where I'm headed with mom following behind me curious to see the place.

Inside the first room on the left is a brightly lit children's play area, everything in here is for smaller children than Mirena. So we head to the next room, which contains all sorts of constructive toys, designed for smaller hands than mine. All of them designed with the idea of encouraging building and experimenting safely. There are already a few kids in the room with their parents.

"Go check out the place," I tell Mirena, setting her down and ushering her into the room. Sure, these kind of toys might traditionally be considered more appropriate for boys back on earth, but I see no problem with encouraging everyone to be equally capable in both the technological aspects, as well as the more, emotional aspects of life. Mom follows her in, eye's wide as she takes in everything

"Nothing can be taken out of the room," I tell them summarising the rules next to the door. "If you make something you like, that you want to take home, you can have the computer make a copy of it and send it up to the apartment."

Mirena grins and heads straight towards a bin filled with thousands of small brightly colored plastic pieces, in various shapes, with small permanent magnets embedded on their ends. She loads up a shallow container from the stack next to the bin for holding a couple handfuls worth to play with and carefully carries it to the closest of one of the tables throughout the room.

We sit there for a few minutes playing with the magnetic toys, with light discussion on what makes a good frame and how triangles are one of the strongest shapes to use. I can tell mom is impressed with the thought that went into the development for each toy in the room.

The cool part about the toys in this room is that they're all designed so they all complement each other and can be used with at least two other toys in the room. An observant child could conceivably use something from each bin in the room on the same project.

I'd be slightly jealous of all this in comparison to the toys I grew up with at that age, if not for the stuff I have now. Ha, honestly, I am a little jealous.

The near constant hum in the back of my head is interrupted by the equivalent of a mental poke, and the only one capable of that would be... Sammeth.

"You mind if I go check on Sam?" I ask mom. "He's probably bored out of his mind lying there in the hospital room." I tell her.

She laughs, "Go on. I've got it covered here."

~new collective~

At the hospital I pause long enough to poke back, and then walk into the room.

"Amelius!" Sam practically yells dragging himself into a sitting position. "Thank the ancestors that you're here. You've got to get me out of here big bro, I'm begging you."

"Why's that?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"Are you kidding me?" he stares at me, with a look that says I just told him the grass was blue and the sky had turned green. "The nurse they assigned me is insane!"

"Oh?" I ask intrigued.

"She keeps saying stuff about how 'cute' I am," Sam tells me, shuddering at the word cute.

I walk the rest of the way into the small hospital room, the walls are a dull two tone greyish blue. It's about what I'd expect from a military hospital circa 1930's minus the various torture devices that earth doctors used at the time.

"It's also how she looks at me when she says it." Sam continues.

"Oh, but little brother, you are cute." I tell him patting him on the head, keeping my expression as serious as I can but it doesn't last long as the terrified expression on his face cracks me up.

"Don't even!" he crosses his arms and glares at me.

"Alright, I'll sign you out of this dump and show you the new digs," I tell him still laughing.

"Digs?" he asks confused.

"The more permanent, new and improved place, where we now live." I say with a sigh, realizing I'd let earth slang slip into the way I talk. Oh well, this place could use some more colorful phrasing; to liven things up of course.

"We moved?" he asks uncertainly.

"Yeah, got a nice place with a view. You'll even get your own room." I tell him dropping the sack of clothes onto the chair next to the bed. "First, lets get that brace off you."

Supplies are tight, so as much as the doctor would have liked to put him in a full cast from the waist down, all they could manage was immobilization via splints.

"Shouldn't we get the doctor to ok that first?" he asks nervously.

"Nah, you're all healed up the only thing left is to make sure everything was put back together correctly." I tell him. "See for yourself, think the phrase, health status report."

He looks at me confused for a moment before his eyes widen in surprise. "Awesome!" he says before blushing bright red.

Sam's nanites aren't giving him the always on hud that I have, but he can get a visual overlay from the nanites in his body on a few things, his own health being one of them. Right now, he's got a visual representation of himself with a report next to it, telling him everything is all healed up. I assume the blushing is because that representation is completely lacking in modesty.

The blush fades as he figures out how to tell the display to obscure certain areas.

"Right then," I say pulling apart the velcro straps holding the brace together. With the straps holding keeping him from sitting up removed, he reaches forward to help me with the last of the straps holding him down.

I look at the hospital gown and raise an eyebrow. "I'll just go to stand guard at the door while you dress," I tell him, handing him a set of alteran style pajamas which are probably only marginally better at making you feel covered and receiving a grateful nod in response.

A few minutes later we're headed towards the nurse's desk, and receiving odd looks from the staff who were involved in the reconstructive surgery from the day before. All of them know he shouldn't be able to walk around without severe pain at this point but they're all frozen because he quite obviously is up and walking around just fine.

"Uncle Ike and Aunt Erica have an apartment just under us," I mention casually as we leave.

"They survived too?" Sam's excited he remembers Aunt Erica watching us when we were younger and she makes these awesome desserts. The names might be different from what I'm used to but there are earth equivalents. Chocolate is called danthem, peanut butter is xan, rice is cala. Sammeth openly ponders the possibility of talking her into making his favorite dessert.

~new collective~

I pull up my map and overview my resources so far. I've got my first tower up in the forest outside of the city, and a little over forty probes gathering resources from the mines nearby. I've got three power stations up and running, one in the middle of the city, another just inside the forest outside of the city between here and the tower, and the last one just finished by the hot springs a day's journey south. There are another ten probes moving into position to build the next few residential complexes.

So far I don't have much in the way of defenses placed but luckily the tower's long range sensors aren't showing any incoming threats. It's fortunate, seeing that I won't be able to build any for a while; as my resources are reserved for the next few building projects, and my stockpile reads as half of what it was before. Luckily, that third power plant pulling geothermal from the hot springs is already showing a decent return for the investment.

I'm guessing the tool tips are simplified descriptions of what all the buildings are designed for so use the map overlay to change one of the planned residential towers near the center of the city to an Academy, and then move it up the priority queue. Mom had mentioned something earlier about seeing if we can get the school back up and running.

I should have enough to construct the snowflake shaped base for the city ship upgrade to the control tower in a few days.

The last thing I do before closing out the hud is reconfigure a residential tower design until the entire thing is taken up by the medical facilities, saving the design under the name Hospital, I place one on an empty lot near the hospital.

Countdown timers: Academy - 7 hours, Hospital - 6 hours, Cybercore - 16 hours.

Queued buildings: 4 residential towers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm working from almost scratch here... that is to say the base upon which I build this story is a rough timeline from the show and some advanced technology from one series which has been blended with another series' advanced technology and introduced by mostly unexplained deus ex machina... the familiar characters from the show aren't really around at this point so everything i'm doing might as well be brand new fiction with a few fanfiction elements thrown in...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Academy

~New collective~

"Wake up!" I'm rudely awoken by Sam and Merina's yell as they both jump on my bed.

"Can we go see Aunt Erica today?" Sam asks.

"I want a go play downstairs," Merina says, scrambling over me so she can sit on the bed next to my face.

"Mom up yet?" I grumble, blinking at the light coming through the window.

"She's inspecting the kitchen," Sam offers.

"Right, then I suppose I'll just have to," I trail off having moved my arms under the blankets for the perfect position to reach out and I continue, "start a tickle war!" I yell as I start tickling.

Merina's pretty good at this she manages to tickle right back as Sam just snorts and asks again, "Aunt Erica? Today?"

"Call her — and see if — she's got anything planned," I say in between gasping for breath from the tickle fight.

Sam leaves the room to access the comm in the livingroom. Another minute of tickling and then we both lay there giggling. "I'm feeling hungry, how about you?" I asked after catching my breath.

I feel her nod in reply. "Let's go see if mom's figured out the kitchen yet."

Mom has indeed figured out the kitchen, and there is a pile of pancakes waiting for us.

Sam tells me over a mouthful of food that 'Aunt Erica' is already downstairs at the front desk, fielding requests for information from the neighbors. So I tell them we can stop by and see if she's busy.

While eating breakfast I review the log from last night's work. With the Academy finished I've unlocked a new building called the Archive, the tool tip says the archive acts as an artificial racial memory, with interactive copies of stored minds.

While that would make the Archive an important building, doubling as teaching aid and a living history for future generations where they can learn from those who lived before them; I'm a little wary of the influence the archive would hold.

Still, the Archive reminds me of Star Trek's Vulcan Hall of Ancient Thoughts, where the Katra's of past vulcans were stored; so I'm willing to give it a chance.

I examine the sensor map of the area again for any areas I may have overlooked that could provide some more resources. Experimentally poking the icon for the power plant brings up a remote access dialog with information on the building itself.

Currently greyed out is an option for something called a Potentia, subtitled Zero Point Module, my mental question prompts the interface to feed me a more detailed description; it forms a natural self contained region of space-time in something called quantum foam. With the right raw materials I can make these things relatively cheap, with only a nominal ZPE hit for the manufacturing process. Without the right raw materials the effort is at a loss as each Potentia cost almost twice the energy it would provide.

Looking over the description again I see the reason it's blanked out is that it requires a nearby research lab. There's also a note that while under construction all power generation of that plant will go towards the process.

I'll have to build a research lab.

~New collective~

The new hospital building is immediately commandeered by the medical director, a balding gentleman with a neatly trimmed grey beard and a penchant for long white lab coats.

Not all of the hospital staff are happy with the new building, something about putting them out of a job, but the director calms them down quickly enough. Of course, I didn't stick around much longer than informing him the building was there for him.

Shortly after that, Sam decided to follow me around, bored of sitting at the front desk with Aunt Erica, he somehow found me using his nanites; which I'm still feeling a bit low on after healing him.

"Mello," Sam asked walking next to me.

I raised a questioning eyebrow, turning my head so he can see my response.

"Where are we going now?" he asked.

"See that building?" I pointed at glass tower a few buildings down.

"Yeah?" Sam said.

"I had that built last night and we're going to explore it," I replied.

"Alright," Sam said silent for a moment before asking. "But if you built it then wouldn't you already know all about it?"

"Sort of," I said continuing the walk towards the main door. "But that's more of a list of things about the building, it's not the same as seeing it in person."

Sam nodded still confused.

"That and it's the new academy," I said as the doors opened to reveal an open lobby, sunlight streaming in the tall windows to illuminate the interior.

I hold back a snort of laughter as Sam's eyes are immediately drawn to the suit of golden armor placed on a pedestal above the front desk.

I'm waiting for him to look up at the non-working model of a scout craft hanging from the ceiling. In person both items are a whole lot more impressive than the game.

After allowing him a moment to finish appreciating the decorations, we proceed to the first room which turns out to be a small auditorium style class, designed to hold about fifteen students max. A hologram appeared at the podium when we enter the room.

"Welcome to the literature and writing composition forum designed for ages six to eight," the hologram announced. "If you are ready to start today's lesson, please find a seat. If you require directions to a specific forum please ask." The hologram finished it's greeting and stood there waiting.

After we left the room the hologram faded out. The next room over was a similar setup, the hologram informed us the class was a mathematics forum for ages six to eight.

The third classroom changed things up this time instead of the forum style seating there were lab tables. The hologram at the front of the room informed us this was the science lab, again for ages six to eight.

The next floor up was ages seven to nine, and above that, eight to ten, then nine to eleven. I stopped in one of the forums on the seven to nine floor and asked the instructor, "Why do the age groups overlap with the neighboring floor?"

"The overlapping age groups were introduced to help place students in the learning environment that matches their developmental needs," the hologram of a male instructor that appeared to be in his late twenties with brown hair and a tan uniform replied.

Above the eight to ten year floor, the class choice gradually became less general, more specific, chemistry or physics instead of just science. Each floor had an indoor fitness and recreation area for the age group assigned at holographic people would flicker on and offer assistance in each room.

I realized that I would probably need to build another academy building and designate it for use by adults over the age of eighteen for safety reasons.

Sam wandered off after we reached the third floor, eventually after I finished my own tour I doubled back to find him sitting in a room filled with computers, following along as the holographic instructor demonstrated a 3D design program heedless to the size of his class.


End file.
